Wednesday 28 February 2018
Venue: Jacaranda Room, Crosby Park Events Centre, 103 Crosby Road, Albion
The first Queensland Water Industry Skills Forum was a productive day attended by 54 participants from 19 organisations (including 40 representatives from Water Skills Partnership Members). The forum included presentations from industry experts about critical workforce and skills issues and opportunities for participants to discuss possible solutions.
Recruitment and retention of staff along with an ageing workforce were identified as the most critical issues for the industry. Participants discussed options for secondment, worker exchanges and traineeships to fill skills gaps and the Water Skills Partnership Group will consider how best to progress those. The next Workforce Composition Snapshot report (due end 2018) will aim to include additional employee indicators in an effort to better understand the challenges.
Certification is still a high priority and work is continuing on development of a Networks Certification Framework and frameworks for dams and catchments will be considered at a later stage. Participants identified that it can be difficult to demonstrate the value of ongoing training for operators and are keen to hear more about how best to measure and communicate return on training investment.
Presentations
We thank our presenters for sharing their experiences - presentations can be downloaded below (available to qldwater members only).
Overview of Water Skills Partnerships, Goals for the Day and implementing a version of the UK , by Dave Cameron, qldwater
Operator Certification Q&A, by George Wall, WIOA
Aligning organisational strategy with operator actions, by David Brooker, Queensland Urban Utilities
The organisational change journey for a regional water business, by Michael Doherty, Gympie Regional Council
Panel Session: Experiences with implementing the Water Industry Worker training program in SEQ and future direction:
Multi-disciplined Water Officers – A new future for Water Industry Workers in SEQ, by Joe Meissner and Paul Rogers, Seqwater
Implementing training co-provision and measuring social return on training investment, by Julia Krawitz, City of Gold Coast
Engaging with contractors on workforce needs and industry standards, by Kathy Northcott, Water Industry Operators Association (previous Veolia Water)
Operator Certification
Seven Operators from Redland City Council, City of Gold Coast and Whitsunday Regional Council were acknowledged at the event following completion of the requirements to become Certified Operators under the national Drinking Water or Wastewater/ Recycled Water Treatment Frameworks. Operators received their certificates from the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) Managing Director, George Wall.
